The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-06-11
Written 5or Tne 14rkdnsdt 7,uceler. -
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
The Beacon Light to Southern
 Progress.
The Views of a Well-Known Banke and Manufacturer on the Future
 of the Magic City.


 and Manufacturer on the Future
 of the Magic City.
 once saw a picture showing how the light of knowledge was driving the imps of ignorance and the hob goblins of prejudice from off the face of the earth. If were painting such a picture, should depict that partic- ular evil genius that leads people to shut their eyes to truth and to jump from isolated instances to general con- clusions as the ugliest and most stub- born demon in the motley throng. am told that down in Mississippi there is county where public schools are bitterly resisted by the colored population, because. torsooth, when schools were first thrown open to the freedmen of that county the two brightest pupils on the rolls cele- brated their graduation in penman- ship by forging notes and landing in the penitentiary. And few days ago saw in a metropolitan journal a warning to parties contemplating in- vestment in Birmingham, Ala, be- cause, forsooth, certain other "min- ing town," to-wit, Virginia City, New, after a phenomenal boom, had afterwards ''petered out' and gone to utter ruin. The benighted negroes were guilty of no greater absurdity in condemning public schools as pro- motors of forgery than was this learned editor in "bearing" Birming- ham on the strength of the "petering out" of Virginia City. The facts are what should be cOnsidered, and, there fore, in justice to Birmingham, that beacon light to southern progress. THE ARKANsAw TRAvELER, has taken pains to collect some of these facts from the best possible authority. The following interview will be found to be the most succinct and comprehen- sive statement of the situation at Bir- mingham that has hitherto been pub lished. It is not an interview with a Mulberry Sellers nor WilktaS M'- co~ber, nor a speculator, nor man with an axe to grind, but with gen. tleman whose financial judgment is attested by the fact that he is the president of the two most substantial corporations in the state of Alabama. and in one or the other of these two official positions he is known to bankers, merchants and capitalists all over the union as careful, conserva- tive, unOstentatious man of business, who was never known to exaggerate a fact nor to overdraw a picture: man whose opinions are the result of re- search. analysis and discrimination. and which may therefore he relied upon with the utmost confidence alike by seekers of investments and seekers of homes. The gentleman referred to is Colonel Joseph F. Johnston, presi- dent of the Alabama National Bank and of the Sloss Iron and Steel Com- pany, of Birmingham, Ala.
 "Whilst this city was laid off in 1S71," said Col. Johnston to your correspondent, ''yet for some time it made but little progress. Until 1 ssO 1t was a mere railroad crossing. hay ing no manufactures and but little commerce. The population at that time was only $500. The next year the first furnace went into operation. and from that period dates the real history of the city. It was then learned, what was not believed to be true before, that the very best iron could be made from the inexhaustible veins of red hematite that lay up against the city; and furnace followed furnace in rapid succession, until we have now in this district, near the city, ten furnaces in operation and thir- teen under construction or contract. The output of these furnaces will be over 2,000 tons of pig iron daily, and 1t must be remembered not dollar is sent away for raw material. S3O,OO0 per diem flowing into Birmingham for pig iron and no dollars going cut for raw material ought to make the financial condition of this city healthy."
 "What has been the increase in population ?"
 "The population has grown from S,500 in 1880 to II 900 in 1883: from 22,000 in 1885 to 900 in 1887. This is, I think, fair estimate of the present population say within two miles of the center of the city.
 "The increase in assessed values of real estate have been likewise marvel ous- The assessments were as follows 1880 ...S 7laoao lss4 46e GO iSsl---.,..--.. I.AAs so 1855 4.51oooo